What They're Saying

The kids love to talk, and they pretty much chatter non-stop these days. It's hard to remember, but there was a time when we wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with our kids.

Some of our blog readers might not know that Emily has delayed speech development, and has worked with a speech therapist since she was about eighteen months old. When we moved here two summers ago we had to put together a list of the words she could say (in preparation for her new therapist) and it was only about 25 words long. Now, after a year of preschool, she has a vocabulary of hundreds of words, and she loves to tell stories (which can go on and on). Kate meanwhile has been developing her vocabulary too, and her speech is about average for her age. She can't seem to pronounce the "s" sound at the front of words, so she says things like "top it!" for "stop it" (usually to Emily), and "tep tool" for "step stool". The step stool in their bathroom that has one short leg is the "tippy tep tool", which never fails to make us smile.Sometimes we can't figure out what one kid is saying, so we ask the other one to translate--and this usually works!Part of the fun of raising kids is watching them grow and change. Sometimes we have to really take a step back to appreciate how far they have come in just a few short years.

Winter Rain

Today the weather warmed up to 47 degrees and it rained hard all day--yuck! We don't like to see rain in the winter, because it melts all our beautiful snow. Although it was nice to see that the rain also melted most of the ice on our driveway, and the ice dam that was starting to form on our roof.

The kids wanted to go out in the rain and splash in puddles, but they quickly learned that rain on ice means very slippery surfaces.We attempted to go on a walk down the driveway, and it started out great. Kate even found some berries that had been exposed by the melting snow....But then we ran into slippery ice on the hill, and it turned into a not-so-good walk. Mom ended up carrying two crying girls back up the hill and into the house, after they both slipped and fell.Luckily, no harm was done and we all learned something: When the weather gets this bad, it's probably time to play inside games!

Marble Run

The kids have really been enjoying the marble game that they got from Santa. It has lots of pieces and can be put together in many different ways. We cleared the train tracks off the train table so we could build on a flat surface, and (as a bonus) the raised edge of the table keeps the marbles from escaping.

If you know Mom, you may have already guessed that she likes the marble game just as much as the kids, if not more.In fact, the game works best if Mom puts together the structure--preferably with two separate tracks so the kids can race.We have been happy to see that the marble game promotes sharing--Emily is getting very good at sharing with her sister (in the photo below she is handing over some marbles to Kate). Kate is not as good at sharing, but she tries.Kate's favorite part of the marble game is the one pink part--this plastic spinner. Every time Mom builds a track, Kate has to find the pink spinner and make sure it's right where she wants it.Right now it's fun to play marbles with them, but we hope they can learn to build the tracks on their own too!

Sledding Party

After the excitement of Christmas morning, the girls wanted to go outside and try out some of their new toys.

First they gave some of the toys a ride around the driveway in the new wagon.......then they tried out their new sleds!It hasn't snowed for a few days, so the hill had a little "crust" on it, and was very fast. As always, pulling the sled back up the hill is the hardest part. Notice that both girls are giving their new toys a ride back up in the sleds.We had so much fun in the morning that we decided to call an impromptu sledding party for the afternoon! Several of the kids' preschool buddies (and their families) made it over.Emily's BFF Cole came over, and he brought his whole family, including his older sisters Cleo and Jess. The Bonney boys also made it over, and brought their mom with them too.Kate was thrilled that her friend Julia came over with her mom.Kate and Julia didn't do too much sledding, but they had a good time reshaping the hill.......and trying out some rump-sliding!Meanwhile the grownups had some adult beverages........and the kids hit the slopes! Our hill is perfect for sledding, since it has a long flat run-out in the field. This means that you can get a lot of speed up, but it's still impossible to slide all the way into the road.Emily likes sledding, but she likes it even more when she's doing it with a group of friends. She just kept climbing up and going down, over and over.Both she and Cole were intent on setting new records for speed and distance.Eventually the kids collapsed from exhaustion, and we had to call it a day.It will definitely be an early bedtime tonight!

Christmas Morning

Today the girls slept in until 7:00 (to the amazement of their moms). When they finally came downstairs, they were thrilled to see that Santa had indeed visited our house and brought lots of presents!

There's nothing quite like the joy of Christmas morning for two little kids.They immediately started opening presents, and it seemed that Santa had remembered the things they wanted most........which included a new Daphne action figure for Kate.........and a robot toy for Emily, which she has been asking for non-stop for the past several months. Yes, this is Charlie the Robot from the Funland Scooby-Doo episode (which was also her Halloween costume). We're not quite sure where the obsession comes from, but we are just glad that Santa was able to make her happy.The girls had a great time opening presents, and seemed very happy with all their new toys.

They even received two beautiful gold ornaments from Millie, which promptly (and carefully) made it on to the tree.

Then it was time for the kids to take a (candy cane) break and let the grownups open a few presents.

It turned out that Santa also knew just what Mama, Nana, and Mom wanted for Christmas too! Everyone was very happy with their gifts.

After breakfast it was time to open up our stockings for the final surprises of the day.There was a lot of fun stuff in the stockings, but for Kate the Pez dispensers were probably the best part.Although both girls were quite happy with their new watches. It's funny how a watch (even a Dora one) can make you feel like a big girl!We hope that all of our blog readers who celebrate Christmas had a wonderful day today, and that everyone enjoys this Holiday season!

Christmas Eve

Last night we had Nana, Grandma, and Pop Pop over for Christmas Eve dinner. We let the kids open their presents from G & PP, which was kind of a warmup for Christmas morning.

As you can see, Connor was very interested in the presents too. Kate unwrapped a beautiful princess puzzle........while Emily opened a doctor set, which she has been wanting for a long time. Thank you Grandma and Pop Pop!The doctor set was the immediate hit, with both girls wanting to work some medicine on all the adults present. Mom got her blood pressure taken........and a shot--ouch!Pop Pop had a whole battery of tests done.......while apparently Nana needed an ear examination.Then we had a delicious meal of pulled pork sandwiches and broccoli salad--yum!We topped it off with Christmas cookies, but of course we kept one out for Santa, along with some milk.Emily wanted to leave a carrot out in the snow for the reindeer........and then, in a bit of a modern twist, we checked Santa's flight path on NORAD. He was cruising over Russia at the time, but heading our way soon!Finally the girls headed up to bed. We thought they might have trouble sleeping, but they were sawing logs in no time at all. They were probably a little bit worn out from all of the excitement and anticipation of the past few weeks.